found than at Kirton, situated between Lindum, or Lincoln, and Ad Abum, or the Humber, near a most beautiful Roman road which goes in a direct line through a great part of the diocese? From it there would be free access to every part of the province, a circumstance which is of great importance to a missionary community. When the see of Sidnacester was founded the bishop and his clergy lived together. From the episcopal residence they went to instruct the heathen in the diocese, and to administer the rites of the Church. In course of time churches sprang up as circumstances permitted, and some time before the Conquest every village had its church and "preost;" although only 222 churches were returned in the Survey for Lincolnshire, yet unexceptionable evidence can be adduced of the existence of a larger number. It is manifest that in the reign of Edward the Confessor there must have been a very great number of what were strictly called parish churches, it being asserted in one of the laws ascribed to that king, that in many places there were three or four churches, where in former times there was but one". SIXTH CENTENARY OF THE BATTLE OF LEWES.-The 600th anniversary of the Battle of Lewes was on Whit-Monday last celebrated by the residents in that town and the neighbourhood. The battle was fought on the 14th of May, 1264, on that portion of the South Downs in the vicinity of Lewes now known as the Race-hill, as we have had occasion to shew in a recent number of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE P. The anniversary thus fell on Saturday, but for the convenience of the tradespeople, and in order that the day might be observed as a general holiday, the celebration was postponed until Whit-Monday, when, the weather being delightfully fine, a large number of pleasure-seekers were attracted to the town from different parts of the surrounding district. The various public places of interest in Lewes, including the ancient Castle, with the museum of the Sussex Archæological Society, the De Warren Chapel in Southover Church, and the Mechanics' Museum, were thrown open to all comers, and inspected by large numbers of visitors in the course of the day. The annual custom of treading the boundaries of the borough was observed about noon, with the usual formalities, and at one o'clock the large town bell, familiarly known as "Old Gabriel," which is only tolled on very particular occasions, was rung as a signal for closing the various shops and working establishments in the town. In the afternoon the local rifle corps were inspected and engaged in a sham-fight on the battle-field, after which a public dinner took place in the County Hall, to which the volunteers were invited, and which was attended by most of the leading residents. In the evening there was a torch-light procession through the town, followed by a grand display of fireworks from the Castle-keep, and the proceedings were wound up by a popular ball in the Corn Exchange. THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF IRELANDa. IN the number of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for April, 1863 (pp. 433, et seq.), we called attention to the neglected state and unsatisfactory treatment of the Public Records of Ireland, as developed in some remarkable circumstances connected with two volumes entitled "Calendars of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland of the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth," published in 1861-2, "by authority of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury under the direction of the Master of the Rolls of Ireland." Our remarks on these productions were based upon the contents of a pamphlet styled "Record Revelations by an Irish Archivist," corroborated, however, by an independent and scrupulous investigation of the question before we expressed our conviction in the accuracy of the following conclusions, startling enough to the public who had been deluged with printed official certificates of the high value of the Calendars,—that the publication of these Calendars had been commenced by Government without having consulted a single literary or scientific person conversant with the subject; that the "Prefaces to these two Calendars, although purporting to be the result of lengthened original documentary researches, are, in the main, abstracted verbatim, without acknowledgment, from previously published works: that the portions of the Prefaces not so abstracted are replete with errors; that the annotations are of the same character with the Prefaces; that the Prefaces evince ignorance even of the nature of Patent and Close Rolls; that the Calendar, or body of the work, as thus edited, is, in general, unsatisfactory, and defective for either historical or legal purposes; that the titlepages are incorrect, as the volumes do not include a single Close Roll; that, although given to the world as an original work, portions of these Calendars were before printed, and the entire prepared for the press by the Irish Record Commission, more than thirty years ago." This matter was brought before the House of Commons in June, 1863, by the Right Hon. W. Monsell, whose representations were replied to, on behalf of Government, in vague terms, containing but the two specific statements-that the editor "had not borrowed from any author whose name was not mentioned in some part of the Preface," and that an official of the Dublin Rolls Court, whose testimony was de "On the History, Position, and Treatment of the Public Records of Ireland. By An Irish Archivist. Second Edition." (London: J. R. Smith; Dublin: W. B. Kelly.) GENT, MAG, 1864, VOL. I. 4 S clared to be unimpeachable, had certified that "the text of the Calendars was quite complete and without omissions." Under the same official system, ignoring competent archivists, a large calendar had been printed in 1862-3 of the Patent Rolls of James I. as an original production, those who authorized it on behalf of the Treasury being apparently unaware that the work had been executed thirty years ago at the public expense, and that numbers of copies are lying unused in Government stores. The attention of the House of Commons was called to this circumstance by Colonel French in July, 1863, and it would appear that this supposed original Calendar of the Rolls of James I. has been quietly suppressed, as too glaring a mistake to be allowed to come before the public, who, however, have been given a Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland of the first eight years of Charles I. from the same source, and executed in the same style with the two first volumes, but with neither reference to the language of the original documents, preliminary dissertation, nor other elucidations required by the Treasury from editors of analogous works in England. These affairs are fully discussed in the volume before us, consisting of a revised edition of "Record Revelations," with a second part devoted to the consideration of the statements put forward in Parliament to screen from the Treasury and the public the extraordinary reality of these unprecedented transactions. The attempt to defend the vast plagiarisms by the allegation that no author had been borrowed from whose name does not appear, is proved to be inaccurate, as throughout the whole of the Calendars the names of Hardiman, Hatchell, Tresham, Lemon, O'Donovan, and Harris, have been studiously omitted-not even once referred to; although the specimens adduced, in parallel columns, demonstrate that numerous pages of their works have been reprinted in these volumes as new and original composition. The "unimpeachable authority" adduced to the House of Commons and the Treasury in favour of the completeness of the text of these Calendars of Patent and Close Rolls is shewn by the "Irish Archivist" to be in reality the testimony of an official, who, according to the evidence of the editor of the Calendars, printed in the Report on the Irish Court of Chancery, could neither read ancient documents, nor comprehend their value, use, or application. Having disposed of the arguments put forward in Parliament, the writer proceeds to analyze the text of the Calendars in the following sections: "Plagiarisms, patents entirely omitted, documents calendered so imperfectly as to be misleading and valueless; incorrect abstracts, false decipherments, and inaccurate translations of entries on the Rolls." The vast extent of plagiarisms in the "text" of the Calendars is dis played by an elaborate table of references followed by a series of extracts in parallel columns. Under the head of "Patents omitted," the author, in addition to other interesting matters, supplies some new information respecting grants to Edmund Spenser, omitted from the Calendars : "These so styled Calendars of Rolls of Chancery in Ireland,' contain, however, no entry either of Spenser's appointment to an office in the Irish Chancery Court, of the records of which they are certified to be faithful repertories—'quite complete and without any omissions! Neither do they mention the grants made to Spenser, including that of Kilcolman, where he composed part of the Fäerie Queen,' and from his house at which, on 27th December, 1592, he addressed his 'Colin Clout's come home again,' to the 'Shepherd of the Ocean,' Sir Walter Raleigh." Having supplied these omissions by a chronological detail of the Irish grants to Spenser, the author writes as follows:— "The serious disservice done to English literary history by the imperfect mode in which the Calendars have been put forth is strongly illustrated by the foregoing omissions in connection with so eminent a writer, who 'threw the soul of harmony into English verse, and made it more warmly, tenderly, and magnificently descriptive than it ever was before, or, with a few exceptions, than it has ever been since.' From the discreditable and chaotic state of the Irish Public Records, previous writers, including the latest and most laborious investigators of Spenser's history, appear to have had no acquaintance with the grant made to him, as above noticed, of Kilcullen Abbey, in 1581; while, no doubt from the same cause, the editors of Athena Cantabrigienses fell into the error of setting down the rent which he paid for Enniscorthy at £300 6s. 4d., instead of £13 6s. 4d. "Among various other omissions of this class in these Calendars, one may be noticed of high interest, as supplying a long missing link in connection with Spenser and the English authors of Shakespeare's time. Great obscurity has hitherto involved the history of an English writer named Lodovico, Lodwick, or Lewis Bryskett, an intimate friend of Spenser, who, in reply to his entreaties for the completion of the 'Faerie Queen,' addressed him a sonnet : 'But Lodwick, this of grace to me aread; Do ye not think the accomplishment of it "Bryskett is now recognised as author of the poem of Sir Philip Sydney's death, entitled the Mourning Muse of Thestylis,' long supposed to have been written by Spenser; and much regret has naturally been felt that we should know so little of a poet of such high merit. "Bryskett's early connection with Spenser is, however, explained by some official documents which shew that he acted as Clerk of the Privy Council of Ireland so early as 1571, and that he was appointed to the newly created office of Register of the Chancery in Ireland, for the faculties, by patent dated 11th of April, 1577, likewise omitted from these so-called Calendars of the Chancery records! "Lord Grey of Wilton, Deputy of Ireland, with whom Spenser came over as Secretary, also patronized Bryskett, who was appointed Clerk of the Council in Munster, after his situation in the Chancery Court had been transferred to the author of the Faerie Queen,' as above noticed, in 1580. Malone, the Shakespeare commentator, considered that Bryskett's Discourse of Civil Life' was written between 1584 and 1586, during his tenure of the Munster clerkship, his appointment to which does not appear in these Calendars, although they record that he surrendered it to Richard Boyle in 1600. In concluding this second section I have to observe that no justification can be offered for the omission of the vast number of important grants unnoticed in these volumes, which purport to be not only Calendars of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery of Ireland,' but also to supply such chasms as may exist in these documents by the introduction of extraneous matter, to the enormous extent exhibited under the head of Plagiarisms in the text.' In the third section of the analysis of the text of the Calendars respecting "Documents calendared so imperfectly as to be misleading and valueless," the author writes as follows with reference to the entries of grants of lands, a subject of serious import to those connected with Ireland by birth or property : "Having already demonstrated, page 64-66, that the grants of offices and of pardous have been calendared in these volumes in a mode which renders them unserviceable in either historical or legal inquiries, we have now to consider the grants of lands. "Documents connected with property, pedigree, and title will naturally be regarded by many as of higher importance than such literary and historical curiosities as ancient State Papers and Correspondence, and I shall now proceed to shew, that the grants of lands have been calendared in these volumes in a style which would not be tolerated in the Calendars of State Papers and Letters published under the Treasury in England. "The 'Calendars' under consideration will, however, be found to embody not only all the defects against which editors are above warned, but also a variety of errors which could scarcely have been anticipated in the work of any compiler presumed to be even proximately competent for his task. "In some cases the 'Calendars' name the lands of which grants are entered on the Patent Rolls, but omit to mention the counties in which they were situated; to vary the blundering, we find in other instances the names of the lands not given, but those set down of the counties in which they lay. "In other cases neither lands nor counties are named, as in the following instance ::- "Patent Rolls, 17° Elizabeth, 1574. "Grant to the Earl of Ormond of several lands lying in several counties. Feb. 25, 17°."-Calendar, vol. i. p. 555. "Even the entries which purport to be full abstracts of enrolments will, when tested, be, for the most part, found to omit important lands and other hereditaments enumerated on the original roll." Having given copious specimens of the defective entries of grants of lands, distinguishing by italics the portions totally omitted in the Calendars, the writer continues as follows on this important topic : "The preceding examples are from a single year of one reign-and similar specimens might be adduced to the extent of several hundred pages, exhibiting the imperfect and valueless form in which the grants of lands have been calendared in these volumes, which, nevertheless, have been officially certified to be quite complete, and without any omissions!' "Such omissions may entail serious pecuniary losses to individuals, since legal |